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The death of the United Kingdom’s Princess Diana in August 1997 prompted worldwide displays of grief and condolence. The circumstances of the accident that killed the princess, however, also sparked numerous debates about the role that photojournalists and fans may have played in her death. The following report is from an August 1997 article in the Encarta Yearbook.
Diana, Princess of Wales, died of injuries suffered in an automobile accident in Paris, France, on August 31, 1997. She was 36 years old.
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The accident occurred when Diana's limousine struck a support column in a tunnel near the Pont de l'Alma, a bridge that spans the Seine River. The car then spun into the tunnel wall before coming to rest. Two of the three other passengers—Diana's companion Emad Mohamed al-Fayed and Henri Paul, the chauffeur—were killed instantly. One passenger, Trevor Rees-Jones, a bodyguard, survived the crash with severe injuries.
Diana was rushed to a Paris hospital where doctors fought for two hours to halt massive internal bleeding. They were unable to revive her, however, and Diana was pronounced dead at about 4 am Paris time. News of Diana's death was brought to her two children, Prince William, age 15, and Prince Harry, 13, by their father, Charles, the Prince of Wales. The boys were on holiday at Balmoral in Scotland, together with their father, Queen Elizabeth II, and Prince Philip.
Al-Fayed, also known as Dodi, had reportedly begun a romantic relationship with Diana in the weeks before the accident. The son of Mohamed al-Fayed, a wealthy Egyptian businessman who owns London's famous Harrods department store, Dodi coproduced or cofinanced several motion pictures, including Chariots of Fire (1981) and Hook (1991).
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On the night of the accident Diana and Dodi ate dinner at the Ritz Hotel, also owned by the al-Fayed family. As they left the hotel they were followed by a group of photographers on motorcycles, but what happened next remains in dispute. Some witnesses claimed that the pursuing photographers caused the driver to lose control of the vehicle. This version of events was disputed by the photographers, who said the limousine ran a red light and had left them behind by the time the accident occurred.
French police held six photographers and one motorcyclist for questioning. All seven were later released after being placed under formal investigation. All seven could be charged with involuntary homicide, hindering rescue efforts, and failure to assist the crash victims, a crime under French law. Some witnesses said several photographers took pictures of the wrecked car and its dying passengers rather than coming to their aid. On September 4 three additional photographers sought by police turned themselves in.
On September 1 French officials announced that postmortem tests indicated the chauffeur had a blood-alcohol level of 1.75 grams per liter, more than three times the legal limit in France. The French newspaper Le Monde later reported that additional tests showed a blood-alcohol level of 1.87 grams per liter. That is equivalent to a blood-alcohol level between 0.175 and 0.187 under the system used in most of the United States, which measures blood-alcohol levels in grams per 100 milliliters. A person with a blood-alcohol level of 0.10 grams per 100 milliliters or higher is considered legally drunk in many states, and some states have set 0.08 grams per 100 milliliters as the legal limit. The al-Fayed family denied that Paul was drunk and claimed the tests were inaccurate.
The death of the one-time kindergarten teacher turned princess, who had an enormous popular following, shocked and saddened the world. Thousands of mourners gathered at London's Kensington Palace—Diana's official residence in the United Kingdom—to pay their respects. Observers said Diana was one of the few members of Britain's royal family with whom the public identified.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair, alluding to her popularity, called her the “people's princess.” Other international figures also expressed their grief, including Pope John Paul II, United States President Bill Clinton, and French Prime Minister Jacques Chirac.
Since divorcing Prince Charles in August 1996, Diana had sought to chart a new public life and had devoted much of her time to charity work. Among her most prominent causes was a campaign seeking a worldwide ban on land mines. In 1997 Diana visited Angola, one of the world's most heavily mined countries, to promote her cause.
The royal family initially avoided any direct comment on Diana's death, instead issuing a statement expressing its grief through an official spokesperson. Many Britons viewed this as a sign of disrespect. In reaction Queen Elizabeth II took the highly unusual step of addressing the nation in a televised speech on September 5. In her address the Queen praised Diana as an “exceptional and gifted human being,” and thanked the many thousands who had sent flowers and their respects.
Diana's funeral was held on September 6. The somber procession began at Kensington Palace and wound its way through London to Westminster Abbey. Her two sons and former husband followed her horse-drawn hearse on foot. More than one million mourners lined the route, and millions more watched the proceedings on television.
In his eulogy, Earl Spencer, Diana's brother, praised her for her charitable works, criticized the press, and said goodbye to his sister, “the unique, the complex, the extraordinary, and irreplaceable Diana.” At the end of the service Britain observed a minute of silence in her memory, and later that day Diana was buried on the grounds of her family's estate in Althorp.
Source: Encarta Yearbook, August 1997.
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Charles, Prince; Windsor (royal family); Diana, Princess
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